Source: Â www.indianexpress.com
After undertaking work on the first Metro railway project in Navi Mumbai, the state is now planning to lay the foundation stone for two more lines of the project in a year. One of the arms of the project, which will go from Vashi-Nerul-Seawoods-Panvel, will run parallel to the existing railway line and eventually link the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai Metro railway networks.
The foundation stone for the first arm of the project in Navi Mumbai, which will run on the Belapur-Taloja-Khandeshwar-Navi Mumbai airport route, was laid on Sunday. The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation had identified six Metro corridors for Navi Mumbai which total 190.70 kilometres. The project is being executed by the Cidco and though it is envisaged to complete work on the route by March 2014, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan sought that the target be pushed to 2013.
Principal secretary (Urban Development Department) T C Benjamin said of the six corridors, they wanted to take up work on another two — Vashi-Nerul-Seawoods-Panvel, which is a 25-km-long route costing Rs 6,000 crore and the Ranjanpada-Kharkopar-Seawoods route, which is 14 km long and will cost Rs 3,000 crore. Benjamin said the work on these two arms will be undertaken on a war footing by the Cidco in six months and the bhoomi poojan will be performed in a year.
He added once Vashi and Mankhurd were linked, the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro could be connected to the Vashi-Nerul-Seawoods-Panvel route, which will provide connectivity from Mumbai to the satellite city. Moreover, the two projects are using the same standard gauge.
